In signal processing, it may be desirable to perform a filtering operation on a discrete time signal obtained before the discrete time signal is converted into binary. Such a filtering operation enables, for example, limiting the bandwidth of the discrete time signal, especially to avoid aliasing of the signal spectrum when a decimation is performed on the discrete time signal samples before analog-to digital conversion. The filtering also enables eliminating the wide-band noise which is within the band of interest, or eliminating unwanted high-amplitude frequency components, as can be the case for a radio receiver.
The filtering of a discrete time signal may be performed by an active analog filter with switched capacitances. Such are for example the filters described in publication “Design Techniques for MOS Switch Capacitor Ladder Filters” of G. M. Jacobs et al., IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, vol. CAS-25, December 1978, pages 1014-1021. However, such filters use operational amplifiers, which may be disadvantageous, especially for systems for which the power consumption is as low as possible or for which the sampling frequency is high, as is for example the case for radio receivers.
It is thus desirable to use a filter with passive components only. As an example, a filter performing a running means over the last samples of the discrete time signal generally provides an efficient filtering. Such a filter is called a SINC filter, since the expression of the Fourier transform of the filter is close to a sinc x.
US patent application 2003/0083033 filed by Texas Instruments Company describes a device for processing a discrete time signal performing a decimation operation, only comprising passive components and comprising a SINC filter placed before a decimation unit, which is itself followed by a single-pole filter.
Even though such a filter enables partly limiting the filter aliasing, the attenuation obtained by the SINC filter at aliasing frequencies may be insufficient for certain applications. Further, the single-pole filter provided downstream of the decimation unit comes too late, since, due to the decimation operation, the spectrum aliasing of the signal provided by the SINC filter has already occurred.
In particular, for applications for cellular receivers, such as receivers of GSM type (Global System for Mobile Communications) or of WCDMA type (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), it is necessary to provide a sufficient attenuation of the frequencies likely to alias in a decimation operation, which can generally only be obtained via a single SINC filter.